The Hobbit
Dec. 21st, 2013 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkToday was a bit chaotic, with lots of things getting cancelled and/or postponed, but in the end I managed to finish a birthday gift (for a party that was postponed a few days), say goodbye to a friend who's leaving for the US for five months, and go see the second "Hobbit" afterwards. They changed a lot more than I was expecting: the tone is very different from the book.
I liked Tauriel more than I expected. I loved that the "thing" they set her up with was her frustration with Thranduil's policy, that she's a great warrior and a leader (of some kind, idk, the forest patrols?) and that she didn't seem to be romantically interested in Legolas. I didn't even mind her almost-flirting with Kili, since she probably doesn't meet many outsiders. Going after the orcs to Laketown makes sense for her. I can easily invent a reason why she stayed to heal Kili instead of hunting the orcs down with Legolas. But it's harder to see why she stayed to take care of him afterwards instead of finding out what happened to Legolas: is healing so tiring? Did she try to get intel from the other dwarves? Was she that confident that Legolas would be okay? Hm.
Still, overall I really liked her, I'm interested in her, and I want fic. I'd even write it myself. I just hope I'll still like her in the next film.
Other things I/we noticed:
- The "stairs" to the grave that Gandalfs climbs look like somebody stuck stones to the wall with superglue. That's not how you build stairs into a mountain.
- What the heck happened with that golden dwarf statue? It just suddenly liquified somehow?
- Empty barrels don't stay upright in a fast river.
- That is not a very well hidden stair to the secret door.
- Several imo unnecessary but admittedly visually cool action scenes, like with the Orcs and elves at the river or Gandalf and the Necromancer or with the dragon in the mountain.
- I didn't like Beorn. He looks weird, his bear form is inconsistent and once or twice almost looked like a warg, and his raspy voice was imo overdone.
- Thranduil's body language in the scene with Thorin made him look so snake-like LB described him as a mix of Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort.
- If I were an evil villain and I captured the other side's wise wizard, I'd kill him, not capture him. But narrativium. I bet Gandalf even finds Glamdring again.
- I liked Smaug. Nicely animated.
- Bilbo's talk to Smaug was more unexpted in the film than in the books because we don't hear his voice as much. His moments with the ring were very nicely done, but other than that I wish we'd have gotten more of him.
I liked Tauriel more than I expected. I loved that the "thing" they set her up with was her frustration with Thranduil's policy, that she's a great warrior and a leader (of some kind, idk, the forest patrols?) and that she didn't seem to be romantically interested in Legolas. I didn't even mind her almost-flirting with Kili, since she probably doesn't meet many outsiders. Going after the orcs to Laketown makes sense for her. I can easily invent a reason why she stayed to heal Kili instead of hunting the orcs down with Legolas. But it's harder to see why she stayed to take care of him afterwards instead of finding out what happened to Legolas: is healing so tiring? Did she try to get intel from the other dwarves? Was she that confident that Legolas would be okay? Hm.
Still, overall I really liked her, I'm interested in her, and I want fic. I'd even write it myself. I just hope I'll still like her in the next film.
Other things I/we noticed:
- The "stairs" to the grave that Gandalfs climbs look like somebody stuck stones to the wall with superglue. That's not how you build stairs into a mountain.
- What the heck happened with that golden dwarf statue? It just suddenly liquified somehow?
- Empty barrels don't stay upright in a fast river.
- That is not a very well hidden stair to the secret door.
- Several imo unnecessary but admittedly visually cool action scenes, like with the Orcs and elves at the river or Gandalf and the Necromancer or with the dragon in the mountain.
- I didn't like Beorn. He looks weird, his bear form is inconsistent and once or twice almost looked like a warg, and his raspy voice was imo overdone.
- Thranduil's body language in the scene with Thorin made him look so snake-like LB described him as a mix of Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort.
- If I were an evil villain and I captured the other side's wise wizard, I'd kill him, not capture him. But narrativium. I bet Gandalf even finds Glamdring again.
- I liked Smaug. Nicely animated.
- Bilbo's talk to Smaug was more unexpted in the film than in the books because we don't hear his voice as much. His moments with the ring were very nicely done, but other than that I wish we'd have gotten more of him.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-22 12:59 am (UTC)The Tolkien Nerd’s Guide to “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Covers how closely the movie follows canon.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-22 10:39 pm (UTC)